The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1887-07-22

over So 600. Gas had been discovered here
before and two or three good wells were
flowing several millions of cubic feet day.
The first well was put down by stock COM
pany gotten up among the citizens, in
which the shares were as low as $50. In
digging this big well, we drilled down 100
feet Through the drift to the rock, and sunk
into this hole an iron pipe ten inches in
diameter. We then drilled in through the
rock, keeping the same ten inch drill until we
reached $50 feet below the earth's surface. This
hole was now full Of water, and the lower
part OF it was, of course, a pipe of solid rock.
!. We. now inserted another iron pipe 5%
inches In diameter into this to shut out
the water and went on drilling until we
came to slate. We found no water below the
55s inch pipe, and the drill was now sunk
deEn still further for gas. After we had
] struclz Els we had to insert another pipe and
we foufId the flow Of gas so great THAT it re-
quired ~ inch packing to use it. The
gas threw the drilling over the derrick, and
during the last part of the work the force
was so great that it was almost impossible to
drill. The gas foated the 1900 pounds of
drill and the 5000 pounds of rope, and the
work was very slow"
MIR. Mccullough says he has been success
full in making good artificial gas out of
petroleum and coal, and he says the Lima oil
will be used largely for this purpose Both
he and ex-Congressman Doxey, of Anderson,
think that some invention will be made for
the storage of this natural gas, and the idea
was put forth of the possibility of its being
transported out of the gas regions for fuel
IN this age of invention nothing is impossible,
and the other towns Of the country may some
time be able to have this Indiana gas on tap
as they have their Pennsylvania coal oil and
their Milwaukee beer today.
***
This last idea may be q wild one, but a
grocer at Muncie gave me one which will
equal it. Said he in all earnestness, "This gas
is going to be great thing for market gar
deners. We had a man here from Oxford,
O., who is going to establish garden in the
gas regions, and who claims he can raise veg
etables at least one month sooner by keeping
an artificial heat around bis garden. He pro-
poses to have gas pipes perforated with holes
running through it, and to have jets Of burn
ing gas coming out of these day and night.
He expects to be able to drive of the frosts,
and will use the gas both in his greenhouses
and in his fields" ....
close this letter with reiteration of what
have already said as to the booms of this
gas territory, and sum up its prospects as
follows: Both the Ohio and Indiana gas
towns will grow steadily while the gas lasts,
which according to general opinion will be
for decade or SO at the lowest estimate. up
to forever at the highest. The towns in the
territory have all enough gas to supply q
large manufacturing plant with heat and
there will hardly be a phenomenal develop.
81 ,>1o
is so much to pick from. The towns having
the best railroad facilities will be the best
points for manufacturing, and those railroad
towns where gas can be piped at little ex-
pense will have almost as good a chance as
the towns in the region. Real estate values
in some of the towns, and notably Findlay.
will have to fall, and the speculation which
took place there, in Muncie and in Kokomo
will hurt and is now hurting their citizens.
Findlay's ideas of growth are too exaggerated
for realization, and though it is growing
faster than any other gas town it will proba-
bly, be many years before it can build up the
lots which it has already laid out, and the
question of whether it is to be great city is
decidedly one of the far future It has cer-
tainly no more advantages than several of
these Indiana gas towns, and its railroad
facilities are not equal to those of either
Muncie, Anderson, Kokomo or Marion, all of
which are good towns and all of which have
good gas lands, though none. except perhaps
Anderson, has shown SO great production of
gas per we'll **=
The cheapness of the fuel and the saving of
labor i'll its use will induce some people to
change their residences to these towns, and
the same are the reasons which will operate
as to manufactures. Old companies with
large plants will, however, not move, and the
companies which are now coming are small
affairs who are doing business on a close
margin and those which need help. The
region will be built up at first by such fac
tories and by institutions which have failed
Or have been burned out otherwheres. These,
by the saving in the cost Of fuel, may sell !
their goods at such rates as to force larger
to come and in some cases, |
am told, the saving in fuel alone will make |
very fair percentage on the cost Of manu-
facture. 1
In the meantime the people of the towns of |
the gas regions have begun to appreciate
these facts. Their balloon ideas of jumping |
Aladdin like into great cities have passed |
away, and real estate, while still high, will
be soon held at figures not much above its
actual value FRANK O. CARpENTrp